The invention relates to a rail vehicle with a head module made of a fiber composite material.
In order to improve the mass balance of rail vehicles, obtain a high degree of design freedom and be able to make use of the technological advantages of fiber composite materials as well as a modular construction with a high degree of prefabrication and pre-testing, rail vehicles are increasingly designed with head modules, e.g. driver""s cabins, made of fiber composite materials.
A vehicle of this type is already known from European Patent 0 533 582 B1. According to this patent, a driver""s cabin of a rail vehicle is produced as a separate structural component made of a fiber composite material, wherein the walls of the driver""s cabin are formed as a single unit together with a support structure for the engineer""s console. The driver""s cabin must be screwed to the underframe of the rail vehicle, as well as to the upper longitudinal supports of the upper frame for the side wall. If necessary, meaning presumably to compensate tolerances and reduce power peaks, the cabin must be attached by means of elastic buffers. It should be possible to transfer frontally attacking forces that result from a lifting of the vehicle via fixed end stops to the underframe and the upper longitudinal supports. However, there is no mention in this reference of how the joints between the driver""s cabin on the one hand and the underframe and the upper longitudinal supports on the other hand are to be designed. It appears to be a disadvantage that specific areas of the driver""s cabin must be specially reinforced, owing to the quasi point-type introduction of force into the upper longitudinal supports, and that other areas of the driver""s cabin cannot share in this force introduction. As a result, the driver""s cabin has an inhomogeneous structure, which causes particular technological difficulties and costs. In addition, this technical concept restricts the load sharing by the driver""s cabin for the following extraordinary cases
lifting of the rail vehicle for depositing it on the rails;
frontal wall pressure (e.g. 300 kN);
center coupling pressure (e.g. 1500 kN);
center coupling pull (e.g. 1000 kN),
for which the wagon body structure of a rail vehicle must be designed. Based on the standard solutions used so far, it is necessary to have an especially rigid design for the remaining wagon body structure with the underframe and the upper longitudinal supports, which results in additional production expenditures and an undesirable mass increase. This relation becomes less favorable, the higher the share of a head module length, relative to the total vehicle length.
Another rail vehicle with a driver""s cabin of fiber composite material is described in the magazine xe2x80x9cSchweizer Eisenbahn Revuexe2x80x9d [Swiss Railroad Magazine] No. 12/1991, pages 436-442 (Cortesi, A.; Issenmann, T.; Kalbermatten, T.de: xe2x80x9cLeichte Nasen fxc3xcr schnelle Lokomotivenxe2x80x9d [Lightweight Noses for Fast Lokomotives]). In that case, a driver""s cabin is constructed in the manner of a sandwich from several structural parts, which are joined with structural glue connections. The driver""s cabin is designed as self-supporting unit and thus cannot take over any essential load shares for the above-mentioned extraordinary load cases. This is taken into account through the type of connection used for the underframe and the wagon body as well as their mechanical strength and low rigidity. In order to balance production tolerances of 1 to 5 mm, to ensure a pressure seal and resistance to weather conditions in the joint regions, to absorb strong differences in the heat expansion between the driver""s cabin of synthetic material and the metal wagon body module and to ensure a high life expectancy, the driver""s cabin is glued on with elastic adhesive, wherein elastic buffers are inserted as spacers between cabin and underframe and unavoidable production tolerances in the glue joint thickness of 10 mm are absorbed. Such a design is totally unsuitable for the case where the head module of a rail vehicle must be designed to be not only self-supporting, but also load-sharing and must be connected rigidly and fixedly with the remaining wagon body structure.
Another solution for a rail vehicle with a separately produced and mounted head module is described in German Patent 43 43 800 A1. This head module is also designed as self-supporting unit and, by integrating all 6 degrees of freedom, must be connected detachably and frictionally with the underframe and must be connected via elastic intermediate members to the wagon body. This solution also cannot assume essential load shares of the wagon body structure and requires a high degree of precision, with respect to the exact fit of the bolts/holes connecting points to the underframe, at different axial positions. Since the connecting points to the underframe are located inside the driver""s cabin and must be accessible, it is not possible to achieve a high degree of prefabrication.
It is the object of the invention to find a solution for a rail vehicle of the generic type, which avoids the disadvantages described in prior art and fixedly connects a head module of fiber composite material in a new way with a wagon body module and an underframe. In the process, production-related form tolerances and size tolerances (relative to the rail vehicle) are to be compensated simply and with little expenditure in vertical, longitudinal and lateral direction between a head module of fiber composite material on the one hand and the wagon body module and underframe on the other hand. Also, no undefined internal stresses must develop during the joining and the varied heat expansions of a head module of fiber composite material and a wagon body module must be absorbed without damage.
The object of the invention furthermore is to design the head module of fiber composite material to be load-sharing and to connect it to a wagon body module that is connected to an underframe, in such a way that a particularly force-locking, fixed and rigid connection is formed between head module and wagon body module as well as underframe and that the head module consequently can share essential loads, corresponding to the aforementioned load cases and the operational stress, and can introduce these into the wagon body structure.
These objects are solved with a rail vehicle of the type having a prefabricated wagon body module that is connected to an underframe, as well as a prefabricated head module made of a fiber composite material, and including at least a frame wall and side walls and wherein: a joining region of the underframe that points toward the head module is provided with height tolerance-compensating means to compensate for height tolerances of the combination of the head module and the underframe; a joining region of the wagon body module that points toward the head module is provided with joining edges with longitudinal and lateral tolerance compensating means e.g., joining web 7, at least in the region of wagon body side walls (9), to compensate for longitudinal and lateral tolerances of the combination of the wagon body module and the head module; the head module has respective joining edges for the head module front wall and for the head module side walls, which point toward the wagon body module and the underframe, that have respective reinforced sections that are integrated into the fiber composite material; the head module front wall and a the head module side walls are connected shear resistant to the underframe by respective fastening means that are tightened against the respective reinforced sections and build up pre-tensioning; and at least the head module side walls are connected shear resistant at least to the wagon body side walls with the aid of fastening means that are tightened against the respective reinforced section and build up pre-tensioning. Advantageous embodiments and modifications of the invention are disclosed.
The embodiment according to the invention of the head module joints opposite those for the wagon body module and underframe makes it possible to create a fixed connection that is free of undefined internal stresses between a head module and a wagon body module as well as an underframe. With this connection, production-related size deviations of the head module as well as production tolerances in the wagon body module and underframe are compensated in a vertical, longitudinal and lateral direction of the vehicle and in a technically simple and economic manner.
Even simple is the compensation of tolerances between the head module and the wagon body module if the solution discovered for a shear-resistant connection is used only in the side wall regions and an elastic glue joint is created in the roof region, in a manner known per se, which joint can also compensate height differences.
The connection between side wall end sections and a wagon body end section according to one modification of the invention reduces expenditure and costs for compensating the tolerances in the wagon body module.
As a result of the low accuracy requirements, head modules and rail vehicles can now be produced more cost-effectively.
Another advantage is that the connection, made in the cold joining technique, does not depend on whether the wagon body module has a steel design, lightweight metal design or any other type of design. This type of connection can be detached for repairs without damaging the head module and the wagon body module.
Another essential advantage achieved with the invention is that it is now possible to produce rail vehicles with head modules made of fiber-reinforced materials, for which the load-sharing head module also takes on load shares of the wagon body frame and can introduce these into the adjacent wagon body module through a fixed and rigid connecting joint.
A high shear resistance is achieved, particularly as a result of the double-shearing connection, at least between the side walls and the head module and wagon body module. Thus, the side walls as well as the head module and the wagon body module can be dimensioned so as to save material and mass. This is supported by the fact that the reinforced sections of the head module, which are integrated along the joining edge and which support the fastening means, absorb the pre-tensioning forces and loads that are transmitted via the joining surfaces between underframe and head module and further transmit these planar to the neighboring fiber composite material, so that a point-type overload or the need for over-dimensioning this material is avoided.
Since the joint connection to the underframe can be established on one side, below the underframe, a head module according to the invention can be produced, equipped and pre-tested with a high degree of prefabrication before it is joined to the wagon body module.
An exemplary embodiment according to the invention, which should not be viewed as limiting, is illustrated and described in the drawings.;